We are out earlier than usual this week in order to bring you the results and analysis of the 2026 French local elections.

The definitive second round vote was held on Sunday in thousands of communes across France, from tiny rural villages to the big urban centres like Lyon, Marseille and Paris.

Over the next 20 minutes or so we'll bring you all the key takeaways from the main battle grounds, get some snap analysis from our politics expert and look ahead to what happens next.

Host Ben McPartland is joined by the team at The Local France - Emma Pearson, Emma Albright and John Lichfield.

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The Local’s Talking France podcast is attracting more and more listeners each week and we currently have over 12,000 monthly downloads on average. If your company would like to connect with our international audience and sponsor one of our episodes, please email news@thelocal.fr

This week we are, what the French describe as "l'entre deux tours" which means between two rounds.

I'm referring to the crucial French local elections that are taking place. We are between the first and the decisive second round on Sunday. There's a lot to decipher amid the political shenanigans that are happening in France right now, but we'll try and clear it all up and look ahead to Sunday's vote.

We'll also head to different parts of France in this week's episode to find out about some great towns to move to - mainly because property there is affordable.

Have a listen and see which of these less well known French towns takes your fancy.

We'll also discuss the French government's plan to get us all eating well - but do they really expect us to follow their advice?

And one of the many banes of a French language learner's life is the silent letter! Why are there so many, how can we possibly learn them all? We'll get some expert tips and explanations.

I'm Ben McPartland and I'll be joined for this episode of Talking France by the team at The Local, Emma Pearson, Emma Albright and our French politics decoder John Lichfield.

We are recording this on Tuesday March 17th so a Happy St Patrick’s Day to all our Irish listeners both in France and Ireland, I know we have a fair few so a special "Cead Mile Failte" to you all - which means ‘100,000 welcomes’ in Irish.

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This week, well the news in France has been dominated by the war in the Middle East. We'll explain the ongoing impact that the conflict is having on daily life here and we'll look at how President Emmanuel Macron is handling France's role in the crisis.

We'll also focus this week on one of France's most beautiful cities and explore why Americans are moving there in droves.

But we'll start this week by bringing you the latest on France's key local elections, look at where the tight races are and what they mean to the French people.

Plus stay with us to the end and we'll bring you all the French lingo you need to understand les elections municaples.

I'm Ben McPartland your host and I'll be joined as usual by the team at The Local France, Emma Pearson, Emma Albright and politics expert John Lichfield.

Bonjour to all our regular listeners, thanks for sticking with us. And a warm bienvenue to any new listeners tuning in. Just in case you weren't aware this podcast is produced by the team at The Local France and is only possible thanks to our paying members, so please join and help us continue to bring you the big talking points from France each week as well as dozens of weekly articles on thelocal.fr

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France right now is pretty much either water or under metres of snow, depending on where you are in the country so we'll start by getting the latest on the extreme weather that continues to lash the country.

The big story in France this week has been the killing of a young far-right activist in Lyon after violent clashes that have been blamed on a group on the extreme left. We'll look at all the reaction and finger-pointing that has followed and the fears there may be more violence to come as we head towards the 2027 presidential election.

We'll also hear the stories of young people and pensioners who have been denied French citizenship because of tightened rules around income and bring you the final details about a new healthcare fee many foreigners in France will have to pay in future.

And we'll explain why the upcoming salon d'agriculture is such a key date in the French cultural and political calendar - even if there are no cows this year.

And there's nothing worse for French learners than being betrayed by all those false friends, but why are there so many of them? We’ll find out.

Host Ben McPartland is joined as usual this week by the team at The Local France, Emma Pearson, otherwise known as EmmaP - Emma Albright, otherwise known as Emma A and our politics expert John Lichfield.

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On the agenda this week, we’ll find out if anyone can beat likely far-right candidate Jordan Bardella to be the next president of France. He’s flying in the polls, he’s flying on tiktok, but will he fly into the Elysee?

We’ll also get the lowdown on private beaches in France. How come there are so many when all beaches are meant to be public?

And the government has the country’s sacred summer holidays in its sites. Could they finally be cut?

We’ll also hear about the downsides of benign bilingual French and English and why the French government is writing to young people to ask them to have more sex - and eat less meat.

Host Ben McPartland is joined by the team at The Local France Emma Pearson, Emma Albright and John Lichfield.

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This week we start off with some explosive news from France before we hear why authorities on a picturesque island off France's west coast are offering second home owners thousands of euros for their properties and look at why houses have become so expensive in places like the famous Il de Ré.

And we'll look at how speed cameras are getting flashier in France and try to understand why everyone, in rural parts of the country especially, hate them to the point of burning them down.

We'll also explain why there's been a big drop in the number of foreigners becoming French, but why there's been a big rise in the number of Americans moving across the Atlantic to set up home in France.

And we'll help you reveal the animal in you by teaching you some must-know French expressions...

Host Ben McPartland and I'll be joined by the team at The Local France, Emma Pearson, Emma Albright and John Lichfield.

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Up this week we'll look at what's at stake in the upcoming local elections in France and whether French voters really care. And we'll look ahead to the French presidential election to see whether anyone can unite the left... and whether French voters really care.

We'll also look at why kids have been banned from some first class trains in France and whether France, on the whole, is less child-friendly than other countries. We'll hear about the move in the country to avoid American tech companies and indeed other US brands and we'll look forward to some of the best and most bizarre festivals in France this year. Stay with us to hear the strangest sound we've ever heard on Talking France.

And we'll see whether us French learners should really be aiming to speak like Edith Piaf.

Host Ben McPartland is joined by the team at The Local France - Emma Pearson, Emma Albright and our politics expert John Lichfield.

You'll find many more articles about France at The Local.fr

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This week we'll look at whether the French government will survive long enough to enjoy the weekend and find out what the French make of all this budget bedlam that's been going on far too long, especially when the world seems to be lurching towards a crisis.

And speaking of that crisis, we'll look ahead to where these mounting tensions between France, Europe and Donald Trump will lead too, and we'll hear from our American listeners in France as to how they are impacted by it all.

We'll also look at how bad a plague hazing is at French universities and get a view on how different the drinking cultures is between French and British students.

And are open fires in cosy homes in rural France soon to be a thing of the past?

And we'll explain some of the weird and wacky noises you'll hear the French make.

Host Ben McPartland is joined this week by the two Emmas : Pearson and Albright and the one John: Lichfield that is.

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